


Coffee Machines & Band-Aids

by Dyochestra



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Gen, established relationships - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-09-15 14:02:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9238103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dyochestra/pseuds/Dyochestra
Summary: Junhui effortlessly dodged a pen hurtled in his direction as he made his way to the copy room."Try to hit me again, Boo," he said smoothly, "and I'll make sure that Hansol-ah won't be the only thing shoved up your ass today."Or, the laughter, love, and lacerations sustained by the employees of Han & Choi law firm, as they stumble through adulthood together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes even to live is a act of courage. 
> 
> Seneca

Monday morning found Lee Jihoon collapsed on the floor of the breakroom, an arm thrown across his eyes and the broken pieces of his (former) mug next to him. 

It was 8:01, and he could hear his coworkers beginning to stream in, but thankfully, nobody had interrupted him and his sulking just yet. 

The door squeaked loudly as a means of announcement, and feet scuffed across the cheap linoleum tiles. 

Spoke too soon. 

A sharp fingernail prodded him in his side, and with an agitated groan, Jihoon removed his arm, wincing at the encroachment of the harsh fluorescent lighting into his pupils. 

He was met with a smile that was far too cheerful for a Monday morning. Who was this stranger? Around here, happiness was rare. The last indication of amusement happened four days ago, when Jisoo almost shredded a new shareholder agreement, and the whole office chortled as he desperately tried to pull out the document and unplug the machine simultaneously. 

There was a name tag stuck onto his pristinely pressed sweater vest, and he sat up, squinting at the messy print. 

"Lee...Chan? Who are y- Oh! Are you our new intern?" 

The smile remained on his face as he nodded energetically, bending slightly to help Jihoon to his feet. 

"Yes sir! I'm ready to hit the ground running! What is my first assignment?" 

Jihoon raised a finely plucked eyebrow. This boy had been in the same room as him for all of two minutes, and his eagerness was already grating on his nerves. Straightening his cardigan, he pointed to the supply closet, then to the jagged ceramic shards still on the floor. 

"First, I'm going to need you to clean up that mess before somebody tries to step on it and get time off. There should be a dustpan in there. When you've finished, go to the front and speak to the man with the long brown hair. He should have tons of paperwork for you to file. God knows he probably hasn’t even started.” 

A shout for Jihoon turned his head in the direction of the noise, and he bid the intern goodbye, taking one last longing look in the direction of the malfunctioning coffee machine and dragging himself out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake. 
> 
> Lewis Black

Leaving Chan's confused face behind him, Jihoon walked over to Seokmin's desk, slapping the back of his head to alert him to his presence. 

"What did you need?" He murmured casually, removing a stack of files and hitching himself onto the empty space left behind. 

Seokmin was looking like a mess today. His hair was greasy, there were dark bags underneath his eyes, and it looked like he was wearing his pajama shirt. Moving closer, he scratched at the mint green stain near the third button, sniffing his finger. 

Yep. That was toothpaste. Spearmint. 

"I've got a client coming in at 11:30 to sign some things, and Wonwoo went home to proofread the documents. Before he left, I told him to come in early so we could plan and review, but he isn't here yet." 

Jihoon cursed underneath his breath and pulled out his phone, typing "rascal" into the search bar and pressing the contact that appeared underneath. Holding the ringing phone to his ear, he called out to a young man rushing across the floor, arms weighed down with papers. 

"Intern! Come here!" 

Panting with the weight of the stack, Chan awkwardly set the load down on an unoccupied desk, moving towards the stressed duo. 

Rolling his eyes at Wonwoo and his inability to pick up a call promptly, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket, rummaging through it for the company card that was reserved for 'important matters'. 

This was a matter of life and death. 

"There's a coffee shop two blocks over. I'm going to need you to get-" He was interrupted by a pick up on the other side of the line, Wonwoo's sleepy voice filtering through the speaker. 

"Hi, hyping. How're you doing on this wonderful morning?" 

"Shut your trap, you waste of space. I'm speaking to someone infinitely more important. Hold on." 

Sighing in exasperation on the other side of the call, the man pulled the duvet underneath his head, burying further into his pillows. 

Jihoon beckoned Chan forwards, whispering in the younger's ear. 

"Our coffee machine broke this morning, but nobody else in here can know, otherwise absolute chaos is going to break out. I need you to go to a little café two blocks over and get them their caffeine before people start dropping like flies." 

The intern scrambled for a Post-It and a pen, nodding obediently. 

"Okay, so, two cappuccinos to start. A breve for Seungkwan since he's trying to watch his weight now. HaoHao been such a hard worker lately so get him a caramel frappe. Two lattes and two macchiatos. One Americano. 

He casted down a sharp eye at Seokmin, who looked like he was going to pass out from exhaustion any minute. 

"A black coffee for this one. A red eye for Seungcheol. You can get whatever you want." 

A loud cough sounded through the phone, which Jihoon had forgotten that he had pressed towards his ear. 

"Make that two Americanos, intern."

He spoke sharply into the phone. "You'll get your coffee if you get your ass here under twenty minutes, with whatever documents Seokmin needs."

Removing his phone from his face, he checked the time. 

"It's 10:14 now. Get here on or before 10:34, and I won't do anything to you, and you'll get your drink. However, if the clock strikes 10:35, and you're still not here, you're working late tonight and coming in early tomorrow." 

Jihoon could hear the springs of Wonwoo's bed as he leapt out of it. Chuckling shortly, he pressed the red button, watching as the apprentice bowed and damn near sprinted out of the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.
> 
> Elisabeth Kubler Ross

Sock covered feet propped on the desk, hands folded behind his head, and a pen balancing precariously on the tip of his nose described the daily activities of Kwon Sooyoung. He supposed that he could spend his time doing something more productive, but he couldn't be bothered.

A passing Jihoon stopped briefly to ruffle his hair and press his lips to his cheeks, checking that they were still on for dinner that night before continuing on his way to his office.

He made to reach for his keyboard, intending to see how long he could type an email while still keeping the writing utensil balanced on his nose.

The door behind him flew open, and in rushed Wonwoo, scrambling to find Jihoon before the clock struck 10:35. He rushed over to Soonyoung, shaking his shoulders roughly and inquiring about Jihoon's wearabouts. The pen fell off his nose.

Soonyoung's tilted eyes met Wonwoo's with resignation, and he pointed towards his office, turning back to his screen and resuming the e-mail. ‘Plastic wrap', 'condensed milk', and 'housedress' flashed across the screen. 

His mouse swiveled over the send button, and clicked it. Approximately twenty nine seconds later, Junhui gasped audibly, swiveling around in his desk chair to look at Soonyoung with shock.

The man, in turn, threw him a thumbs up. He rolled closer to the Chinese employee, notebook clenched in in hand, ready to sketch out the blueprint for the next prank they were to pull on H&C's receptionist, Jeonghan.

~

Ten minutes passed before Chan arrived back at the office, hands empty and a fearful expression on his face. He knocked on the door of Jihoon's office, stepping in once granted permission. One glance at the lack of drink trays in the intern's grasp and he nearly screamed.

Instead, he slipped from his chair, splayed out on the floor. It was a position eerily similar to the one that Chan had found him in earlier that day. Looking up at the intern in a daze, he shook his head back and forth in disbelief.

"What happened? Was the card canceled? I swear, if Jisoo maxed out the card on those blasted e-books again, I'm going to stick his hands in the paper shredder!"

"No, sir! Nothing like that at all. The thing is...I didn't even get a chance to use that card. The shop closed for the New Year, and it won't open again until Wednesday."

This time, Jihoon did scream. Loudly.

Heads turned his way. Soonyoung half-rose from his seat in worry, and even their rather reclusive boss, Choi Seungcheol, stuck his head out to investigate, his droopy eyes alight with concern. 

"This is only your first day, intern. I didn't want you to be exposed to this until you were at least three weeks in! Ah, and we had so much work for you to do too..."

His words trailed off into something unintelligible. Chan bent down to face Jihoon, perplexed.

"I'm not sure what scenario you must be envisioning, sir, but I can assure you that I have no intention to quit anytime soon."

Jihoon laughed without mirth, running a hand through his hair.

"Ah. So young, so pure, so inexperienced. You say that now. Just wait. Just wait."

Jihoon got to his feet shakily, wobbling outside.

"The last time we didn't have any coffee, we had four other employees. Nobody speaks of it now, but I suppose that there must be a first time for everything."

Knocking on Seungcheol's door, he stuck his head in. "Hyung, do you mind coming outside for a bit? There's something I need to speak to everyone about."

Standing in front of all his coworkers, Jihoon clapped his hands loudly to catch everyone's attention. Chan was hovering near the breakroom door, looking nervous.

"Intern, you may want to take a few steps away from there. There's probably going to be a stampede towards the door once I've finished speaking, and they're not going to stop for you just because you're cute."

He gulped audibly, jogging over to stand safely near Jihoon. "I have some bad news, everybody."

Wringing his hands, he looked down on the floor. "Our Keurig died today, and Lava Java, that cute little coffee shop underneath Mingyu's apartment? It's closed for two days."

Dealthy silence fell over the office, and nobody moved. A full minute passed.

Wonwoo stood, pulled on his jacket, and left.

Seungkwan started to cry, and Hansol rushed over to comfort him, shooting a reproachful glare in Jihoon's direction.

Jeonghan began to laugh manically, head tilted back and body shaking with the force of his guffaws.

Seungcheol went back into his office, turned the lights off, and closed the blinds. A moment passed, and almost as a second thought, he locked the door.

Minghao and Junhui held hands and started to pray in Mandarin.

It all came to a head when Seokmin shuffled over to the window, unlocked it, and proceeded to try and climb out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruins, for me, are the beginning. With the debris, you can construct new ideas. They are symbols of a beginning.
> 
> Anselm Kiefer

Chan, the wonderfully obedient intern that he was, rushed forwards to pull Seokmin from the window, shoving him to the floor and adopting a protective stance in front of the glass. 

He shot an incredulous look at Jihoon, shaking his head in befuddlement. "What the hell is his deal? It's only coffee!" 

"Only...coffee?" Seungkwan heaved, wiping a hand across his tear-stained cheeks. "You must think that we're all a bunch of sad, lazy, degenerate employees with an over-reliance on caffeine. You do, don't you?!"

"He wouldn't be wrong." Minghao whispered. 

Gesturing around the office with a pale, rather bony hand, he pointed out each individual worker in his own state of misery. 

Chan raised an eyebrow. 

"If you're trying to prove a point here, it's not working." 

Mingyu took this opportunity to speak up, his voice gruff from disuse. 

"What Kwan means to say is that...coffee is our life force. We're lawyers! We work our asses off five days a week, and more often than not, weekends too. It requires massive amounts of energy. Energy that we simply don't have. That's why we drink so much, so often. It keeps us going." 

Rising from his seat, Jeonghan made his way towards the break room, still chuckling all the while. The room watched as he aggressively pulled the cord out of the socket, gathering their beloved (and now deceased) Keurig into his arms and chucking it into a wastebasket reserved for paper. Brushing stray coffee grounds off of his skin, he sauntered back out, hands stuck in his pockets nonchalantly. 

"You know, it's funny. The last time something like this happened-- way back in 2011, our little Sammy started looting every draw and cabinet he could find. Seokmin had an unopened bottle of cough medicine, and I kid you not, that child knocked that stuff back faster than I do champagne at weddings. He repositioned all the picture frames on our desks for the first ten minutes before throwing up on the carpet and collapsing in it. Needless to say, when Seungcheol stepped out of the conference room and saw him- I thought he was going to beat him with a plant or something."

Jisoo joined in the conversation, tossing a tennis ball at the wall in front of him. Each throw progressively got more forceful till it came to the point where Chan feared that he'd crack the plaster. "Sammy's no longer with us, as you can see. Got hit in the face with a fern, then fired. Heard he moved back to America.” 

Hansol stood, sauntering over to the window, his expression indecipherable. 

"Stupid kid." He murmured softly, relaxed hands turning to fists inside their pockets. 

The rest of the group echoed the sentiment, eyes downcast and sad. 

Chan suspected that this Sammy person meant more to them than they let on. He probably let them down when he left, the intern mused. Nodding to himself in determination, he promised himself that if they liked him, he'd never do the same. 

Migrating to the person closest to him, which just happened to be Seungkwan, he wrapped his arms around him, pulling the plush man with the confused expression against his chest. 

The office eyed the intern strangely; Jihoon coming over to gently pry the poor, still shellshocked man from his arms, sitting him back in his chair and patting his shoulder. 

"Sorry to interrupt the love fest," Junhui broke in. "But I've got one teeny little question. What is it that we're going to do now, again?"

The room was silent as everyone contemplated the possible answers to that question. 

"Let's switch to juice." Jeonghan volunteered unhelpfully. "We're clearly addicted to coffee, and the constant caffeine can't be good for us."

Soonyoung scrambled up in his seat, eyes bright and twinkling. "Let's make our own coffee!" He crowed, already reaching for one of his sketching pencils. "We can assign somebody on heating the water, others on crushing the beans, a person to organize all the syrup flavors, Seokmin handling the milk." 

"Why is it that I have to be in charge of milk?"

"Because you're a spastic." The tone of Jihoon's voice left no room for argument. 

"That's a good plan, baby, but it sounds kind of time-consuming. Tell you what, it'll be our plan B, alright? Is that okay with you?" 

Scooping up the tennis ball rolling across the floor, Seokmin threw it at Soonyoung, his lips forming into a pout. 

"Ever since you two started dating, you haven't been the same, Jihoon hyung. Is your brain still working?" 

Soonyoung answered for his boyfriend, rising to drop a chaste kiss to the side of his neck.

"Yes, it does, but it's a miracle considering the number of times his head’s been banging into my headboard."

Jihoon's face flushed a fire-truck red, hands flapping about, suddenly unable to look anybody in the eye. 

"Okay then! Any other ideas, before we go with Soonyoung's and proceed to stain, burn, or be forced to amputate every part of our exposed body?" 

Despite working at Han & Choi for over three years now, Minghao was still quite the wallflower, and only Mingyu heard his whispered suggestion. Gently pressing an elbow into his bony chest, his eyes urged him to speak louder. Shaking his head minutely, you could almost see him visibly recede into himself, arms crossed tight against his chest. 

With a sigh, Mingyu spoke up for Minghao. One day, he was going to have to pull him out of the shadows, before people forgot that he was there. 

"Ming proposed that we all take the morning off and look for a Starbucks or something." After turning his head and allowing the reserved man to whisper something into his ear, he recanted, rotating back around to face the group. 

"One of his friends from college owns a Droptop. He lives nearby to the café, and said that he'd be willing to open early just for us." 

Jihoon stood still for a moment. Everyone watched him with bated breath, praying that he'd give them an affirmative. When a smile slowly stretched across his lips, the group cheered collectively. 

Minghao reached over and squeezed Mingyu hand sweetly, mouthing 'thank you' at him. 

"Somebody call Wonwoo. We're going on a field trip!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
> 
> H.P. Lovecraft

After a irksome fifteen minutes of coaxing Seungyeol out of his office, chasing after Jisoo’s Wall Weakening tennis Ball, and hunting down Wonwoo and dragging him up from the restroom, the employees of Han&Choi packed up for their very first fieldtrip. Younger faces shone with anticipation, senior faces dropped with desperation, but they were all in a hurry to get some caffeine into their system. 

The clock struck 10:50 as Jihoon led the team out, Chan following at the back to stuff all other twelve people into an eight-man capacity elevator. 

Standing in silence as the elevator descended, each individual employee ruminated over their eventful morning, curious eyes straying to Hansol in the middle of the floor, swaying dreamily to the elevator music being piped through the scratchy speakers. 

Opening the door faced a harsh shove of glacial air, and Chan, situated at the back, had to push more than a few people back outside; namely Jeonghan, who, at the ripe old age of twenty two, had still failed to realize that the “look, what’s that?” tactic had now become ineffective. 

Congregating in the parking lot, Jihoon focused his attention on Minghao, whose face was currently bright red despite being obscured by a thick woolen scarf. 

“Where to, sweetheart?”

He chose his words and tone carefully, knowing how fragile the younger man’s social skills were. The only person that had his complete faith was Mingyu, who was watching him with just as much caution as the rest. 

Shrugging his protective coverings down, he wiped his slightly frozen eyelashes, pointing a finger down an eastward street. 

“It’s a twenty five minute walk this way,” he began, licking over his chapped lips. “Car would be faster, but the street is practically frozen over, so driving would be unsafe.” 

“I’d rather risk a car accident than walk around in -9 degrees.” Seungkwan cast an evil eye at the rest of the group, staring at him judgementally. 

He opened his mouth to defend himself, but quickly lost his train of thought as a dirty, melting snowball made contact with the back of his head. Spluttering in indignation, he bent down to make his own, positioning it threateningly as he searched for the offender. 

Junhui stood across from Seungkwan, hands in his pockets, expression unimpressed. 

“You’re making me late, Boo. Stop whining before I find some snow with broken glass in it.” 

Lee Chan was aghast.


End file.
